Tuesday, March 5, 2013

More About Waxman, Dirty Politics, and XL Keystone

Congressman Henry Waxman has resisted the XL Keystone pipeline since its inception. In one interview, he shared that he did not want all of that "bad oil" ruining the ground water from Canada to the Gulf Coast. In an energy committee hearing, he offered the empty claim that the Koch Brothers were pulling strings in Congress to get the pipeline built.Recently, Waxman criticized the Keystone project because of the "﻿Dirty Oil"﻿ [0:18:39] that will pollute the ground and affect the climate. For the record, hydrocarbon coming out of the ground, whether in tar sands or in liquid form, will always be dirty. While Waxman complains about "dirty oil", one has to ask if there are dirty politics, or at least dirty motives, behind Waxman's cheer-leading for green technologies, "clean energy", and environmental initiatives which have done very little initiating.To this day, Waxman has only apologized because "﻿Solyndra happened﻿", but with ﻿that company and eighteen﻿ other federally subsidized green tech companies, taxpayers lost $6 billion dollars. ﻿The Congressman even voted against﻿ the "No More Solyndras" Act, which would prevent these wasteful boondoggles in the future. Instead of belittling "﻿dirty oil﻿", Waxman should denounce the dirty backroom deals which have funneled billions of wasted federal dollars to these failed green tech companies. Even LA City Council President Eric Garcetti has "wandered" into hot water because of his connection with "CODA" carmarkers, an industry which Garcetti wooed from Santa Monica to LosAngeles with $1 million in redevelopment money. Providing only one third of projected hires, the electric car company is now laying off staff: another Solyndra", according to LA Weekly.

As for Keystone, despite Waxman's vehement objections, the State Department has sounded approval. Following their review of the potential impact that the pipeline would have on the climate, or the environment, the report concludes the following:

"In its draft environmental review released Friday, the State Department said the construction of the pipeline through much of the Midwest would not have a meaningful impact on climate change."No meaningful impact, Congressman. Nothing to worry about, much like the whole ﻿climate change nonsense﻿. Instead of telling us that the sky is falling because the temperature of the earth is rising, Congressman Waxman should pay attention to more pressing issues, like our government's inability to enact substantial cuts, or to reform entitlements, or to pressure Iran to stay away from its nuclear weapons program, or reform the Postal Service so that the agency does not have to siphon away $5 billion a year to fund health benefits seventy-five years in advance in just one decade.

Let us not forget the ﻿tens of thousands of homeless veterans﻿ throughout the LosAngeles area, who deserve real "climate change": a place to eat, sleep, recuperate, and recovery at the Brentwood VA, their proper destination once returning stateside. The world is getting warmer, but not for the veterans, not for the business world, and certainly not for taxpaying Americans who are seeing their money burned away in Congressional waste and abuse.How about showing some support for the "blue" postal workers, men and women who are now working ten to twelve hours to deliver the mail? The local press has reported that they work longer hours, with less rest, less support, and less respect all around. The diminished United States Postal Service may have to forgo Saturday service, as well, because of the financial burdens caused by legislation that you sponsored: "The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act" (PAE).

Yes, the physical world is getting a little warmer, too, but nothing for us toget all heated about. Droughts, fires, and all the other natural disasters are not having the damaging impact which green "terrorized" or "terrorizers" are having on the debate. Energy prices are rising once again, and tempers are flaring, not just from motorists who are feeling the pain at the pump, but now one plank of the Democratic Party cabal, the unions, are aflame in protest because of President Obama's resistance to the project. The XL Keystone proposal is the only real "shovel-ready" project which would grant real jobs to men and women looking for more than a handout, a bailout, or a band-aid from a government that cannot agree on anything.

Congressman Henry Waxman, it's time to "nix" your opposition to a pipeline which will provide more access to energy, bring down the costs of fuel, and prevent other "superpowers" like China from taking advantage of Canadian tar sands, where the hydrocarbon will be able to fuel the entire world for one hundred years. Congressman Waxman, instead of chasing clouds in the sky or building castles in the air with the "help" of green technologies ("﻿I'm sorry Solyndra happened﻿"), why not relax your red-hot push for green-freak projects which project nothing but project deficits?

Forget about the "Dirty Oil", the "Clean Energy", or even "Climate Change", Congressman Waxman. Cut the spending, lower our taxes, and clean away the dirty politics of special interests, regulatory burdens, and unsightly oversight of projects which can enhance, not detract from, our quality of life in the United States.